Lie marks

Online product reviews can be helpful; they can also be fake. Here's some tips for telling the difference.

Kristi Gustafson Barlette Staff writer

Published 1:40 am, Sunday, October 9, 2011

Before buying a new product, many consumers hit up online review sites. Reviews make us feel more confident about buying something -- that extra "like" or a user's good recommendation can make a major difference in our purchasing decisions.

Thing is, you may think you are buying the perfect iron or booking the best hotel room because 99 percent of users recommended them, but too often those reviews are a scam.

So how can you know what's real and what's a lie? Christine Frietchen, editor-in-chief of ConsumerSearch.com, offers these tips on how to spot a fake review.

Ignore the raves. Reviews that are 100 percent positive aren't that helpful. We think every product has some drawbacks, even if they are small. When was the last time you used a product that had absolutely no problems?

Check out the 3-star and 4-star reviews first. These are often from people who are mostly happy but have some concerns. This is where you'll usually find the most balance.

More Information

Ignore "reviews" that merely list product features. Those aren't reviews at all, and they're probably taken directly from the product literature.

Look for "real life" stories. A comment like "This is the best food processor I've ever used" is much less helpful than a statement like "This food processor is much better than my old model at kneading my sourdough bread recipe."

Check out the reviewer's other user reviews. If they are all over-the-top, that's a red flag.

If you're suspicious, run a sentence search. We've found that fake reviewers often post the same review on more than one website. Try copying a sentence from the iffy review and pasting it into the Google search box.

Watch out for websites that use the product name or type in their domain name. This is one of the latest ways phony review sites are trying to get you to click on their site -- examples would be something like "BestJuicerForYou.com" or "ShampooRatingsReviews.com" (neither are real sites). If you click through to one of those sites and see no useful information, you've likely hit a fake review site.

For suspicious reviews on blogs or websites you've never heard of, try a Whois search. "Whois" is basically a website-owner phone book for domain names. Website owners are required to provide contact information when they register. However we've found that shady websites used a "proxy registration" so you can't see who's behind the site -- a big red flag. One site you can use to check domain names is NetworkSolutions.